


With Love, From Space

by ARealFangirlForever



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Author has no knowledge about engines and planes, Genius Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt Tony Stark, Inspired by Orbit by John Nance, Lost in Space AU, M/M, Obadiah Stane is a Jerk, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, With A Twist, Worried Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-04-23 16:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14336217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARealFangirlForever/pseuds/ARealFangirlForever
Summary: In a tie-up with Wakandan Industries, SI has built a prototype, nicknamed Helicarrier that guarantees a trip to space, and a spectacular view of the earth and space for a period of five days. Faced with skepticism and harsh criticism, Tony Stark boards the Helicarrier with a pilot to prove it safe.But, with an act of sabotage, the Helicarrier is stuck in space, with the pilot dead, and leaving Tony stranded with five days worth of air before he dies. With no tools and no means of communication, he begins writing about his life, as a last message to his boyfriend, unaware that everyone on earth is reading every word he types.With the whole world waiting on tenterhooks about his fate, and his team working on establishing connection and bringing him back home safe and sound, a far more sinister plot unfolds...***************Loosely based on Orbit by John Nance





	1. Space, An Adventure

"I'll be fine, Steve! Don't worry."

Tony Stark, self-proclaimed Genius, Billionaire, ex-Playboy, Philanthropist strode across the pristine white labs in the SI Research and Development Centre, Arizona making last minute adjustments on his suit, with his boyfriend trailing behind him, looking like a kicked puppy. Steve Rogers, six-foot-one-inch-bodybuilder, who makes villains cower in fear and helps old grandmothers cross roads, trailed after Tony, whispering various variations of "But, Tony, what if you got stuck there?"

If it were anyone else, Tony would have balked at the skepticism of his tech. But it was Steve.  _ Steve  _ who loved Tony and looked after him and looked at him with something in his eye that made Tony feel warm in his chest and the simultaneous thought that he could do anything,  _ anything _ for Steve. Always, for  _ Steve _ . Instead of voicing these traitorous thoughts, he instead turned around, and hugged Steve, who returned it instinctively. He looked up to him, and ugh, how difficult it was to be short, and told him, "Steve, honey, love of my life. It is not just my tech. It is  T'Challa's too. And  Shuri's too. Nothing will happen." Steve did not look convinced. 

Tony sighed. He looked up at Steve, at his blond hair perfectly combed, at his clear blue eyes, that always make him feel like he could do anything, that looked like space and the endless journey across time and space, an adventure and a home all at once, and tries to say something, anything to reassure Steve, that it is his tech, and it will not fail, and he will return, the trip is only for five days, he will be back before Steve knows it. 

Instead, there is a huge lump lodged in his throat, that he cannot gulp, at the thought of Steve, pure, too-good-for-him Steve, who will wait for him, who loves him and never fails to remind him that, and all that comes out of his mouth is "I'll always come back home to you."

Steve's eyes widen, and he looked surprised, and then, he smiled, a real smile, one that never failed to make Tony weak in his knees. "God, Tony, I know." He trailed off after he looked like he wanted to say something, and Tony was content to stay there, in Steve's arms, full of love and promises and a new adventure every day, without thinking about the reporters and the nosey people and the critics and the dangers of something that has not been tried before and the hopes that were riding on his  shoulders .

Times like these, he was really glad that Steve was here. Steve, who was very thoughtful and sweet and kind and good and so unbearably too good for someone like Tony and someone who deserves much, much more than Tony, but still someone who stayed by him and helped him. And whenever Tony wanted to voice these thoughts, convey to Steve that he really helped, and he was glad that Steve was by his side, his words always failed him, and all he could do was stare at him and hope that he got the meaning behind all his silences and his sarcasm.

And suddenly, pulling him from his thoughts, came FRIDAY's voice from the speakers, "Boss, it's nearly time." With a barely restrained sigh, he let his head fall onto Steve's strong shoulder before replying, "Right you are, FRI".

He slowly untangled himself from Steve, brushed his suit, just as his assistant and graduate in Tony-speak, Pepper Potts strode in the lab, with a clipboard in her hand and a harried expression on her face, her flaming red hair out of its usual neat bun. 

Catching sight of the pair, she walked over to them, calling, "Tony, the reporters want to have a word with you before you depart.  Do you want to meet them or shall I tell them you are busy?"

"Tell them I'm busy, Pep and all the information they need is what they already have. Now, I'm going to check on the progress made. See ye, Pep, Steve." 

With an exaggerated sigh, Tony walked in the direction of the hangar, leaving Steve and Pepper standing in the middle of the lab, one burning holes into the clipboard and the other burning holes on the back of the retreating man. "He'll be fine, you know.", told the red-haired lady to her friend.

Steve just shook his  head, and looked like he would rather face villains than see his boyfriend go on  an unmonitored and frankly dangerous trip to space.

"I know, it's just, I can't shake this gut feeling that something is going to go terribly wrong.", as both of them walked over to the Bay to look over the launch.

***************

"Mr. Stark, it's an honor, sir."

Jimmy, his tag read, was a young pilot, personally recommended by  Rhodey , stood in attention, in front of the  Helicarrier . He's good, and Tony likes him immediately. He says, "Oh, please. Stop with the Mr. Stark thing. Call me Tony. We're going to be comrades in this space adventure, after all." 

They continue talking, and Tony learns that Jimmy was a graduate from MIT too and just like  Rhodey , he too left for the Air Forces. And after learning that SI needed pilots for an experimental flight to space that could be a major boost to the Tourist industry, he had immediately signed up, without a regard for the consequences.

Tony also learnt that he was a major Tony-fanboy, and quite literally, Tony was flattered. And pleased. They spent the time needed for the  Helicarrier to be brought to the hangar, comparing different tech and getting to know each other.

***************

While all this was happening, Steve and Pepper and the rest, whoever was involved in the Design, Production and Manufacture of the  Helicarrier , directly or indirectly started walking to the Bay to oversee the launch. There was  T'Challa , head of  Wakandan Industries, with whom SI was jointly producing the  Helicarrier . And then there was  Shuri ,  T'Challa's sister and a genius all around, who walked into the Bay absent-mindedly, wearing a white lab-coat and a frown, with her nose buried on the screen of her tablet. Behind her walked in Peter Parker, intern, who, as the same as  Shuri , came in with a tablet in his hands and muttering some scientific terms under his breath.

Slowly, the Bay got filled with people, like Natasha,  assistant to Pepper and her boyfriend, Bucky. There was Phil, PR manager of SI, and his boyfriend, Clint. All of them, came before the reporters who looked like Paradise had come to Earth.

With all the preparations taking place, Steve fidgeted, and no amount of Bucky telling him that Tony will be safe, and Natasha threatening him with castration and  T'Challa's indignant snort at the doubt at his sister's tech could cause him to calm down.

**********

Just as Tony was getting ready, and overseeing the calculations and the data entered, calling out numbers and figures from his tablet, his mentor and godfather, Obadiah  Stane walked over to him, with his bodyguard, Brock  Rumlow , trailing behind him. 

"Tony,  m'boy , I assume, everything is going as per schedule." Called Obie, making his booming voice heard over the rumbling of the engines.

"Hey, Obie, and yes, everything is perfect." Called back Tony, without looking over at Tony. Nodding at  Rumlow , who nodded back, and went for something,  Stane began walking towards Tony and Jimmy, and gazing at the  Helicarrier , an odd expression on his face.

"Tony, " he started and the man in question cut him off, and saying, "Obie, if it's about how this project will be a failure, and you want SI to go back to producing weapons, it's an old argument, one which I'm not willing to open up again. I told you we will not be producing weapons anymore, and I really want to help the world, not help  destroy it." Anticipating  Obie's argument before he heard it.

The man closed his mouth  again, before saying, "Well, if I can't change your mind, Good Luck." As  Rumlow rejoined him, and both of them walked over in the direction of the Bay.

**********

Steve glanced suspiciously at  Stane , and his slimy bodyguard,  Rumlow , as they came into the Bay, and took seats at the very back, before going back to fidgeting nervously, as a voice in the back of his head screamed of upcoming danger.

**********

After what felt an eternity, the time of the Trip approached and Tony got in behind Jimmy, who was already in the special suit designed to withstand zero gravity and the harsh conditions, when suddenly he turned back, and ran over to the Bay, looked at the people inside, looking at him incredulously, at Pepper who was shaking his head fondly, and finally at Steve, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Steve, I love you!" And only after hearing the affirmative, he turned back to the  Helicarrier .

He got inside, sat in the co-pilot's seat, fastening his seatbelt, plugging his headphones, nodding at Jimmy, and starting the massive engines of the  Helicarrier .

Back at the Bay,  Shuri and Peter and Bruce began counting down, while making sure the data was perfect, complete in tune with FRIDAY's count down.

At One, and FRIDAY's "Good luck boss." The  Helicarrier , with a massive roar, took off the ground, and climbed off to the atmosphere, and the occupants of the Bay heaved a sigh of relief, and laughed nervously, who announced, "Done, now all the rest is in Tony's hands and the perfection of our calculations."

And so, the Space Adventure had begun.

 **********


	2. The Beginning

"Control Tower, do you copy?"  
"Helicarrier, receiving you loud and clear."  
"Control tower, this is the Helicarrier. Ascent to the atmosphere at height four hundred feet successful. Countdown to engine three shutdown and subsequent dropping beginning in ten seconds. Over and out."  
"Copy that, Helicarrier. Engine three shutdown beginning in seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... And engine three shutdown."  
"Control Tower, engine three shutdown successful. Beginning ascent to 500 feet." 

********** 

"You heard that, Steve. No need to worry. The engine drop has been successful. Nothing to fear about." No matter how many times Bucky soothed Steve that Tony was fine, nothing would happen to him, he would come back safe, Steve was unconvinced and somehow insisting that Tony was in danger. This was when Tony would remind him that he was just like Captain America, and "Do you have an 'In-Danger' alarm that keeps going off, for everyone or is it just for me?" God, Tony would know what to say, to cool Steve off, insist that he was being silly. God, Bucky never thought this day would occur in his lifetime, but he already missed Stark, just for his ability to call Steve on his bullshit, even though he was just gone for twenty minutes or so.  
"Yeah, Rogers. I get that you don't like my tech and hate me even more so, Tony is perfectly safe. Tony will be back before you know it." Steve ignored the comment about the hate, instead choosing to harass the technicians nearby.  
"Have you heard from him, anything?" He asked the guy sitting at the Control Tower, who was in-charge of Communications and Transmission.  
"Nothing, Mr. Rogers, other than the customary message to the Control Tower about the height of ascent, there have been no additional messages.", the now scared technician blabbered at seeing Steve's face becoming more and more red with worry.  
Sensing trouble, Pepper placed a placating hand on Steve's shoulder, soothed him and asking him what he was so worried about. Steve, who just put his head on his hands, his massive shoulders drooping, mumbled, "I don't know. It's not that I doubt Tony's tech, or Peter's or Shuri's, it's just that... my gut is telling me that something very serious is going to go wrong." He trailed off, uncomfortable.  
"Oh, Steve." It was Natasha now, who sat next to him and made him look her in the eye. "He'll be fine. Do not worry." And Steve gulped, trying so desperately, so hard to push the worry, the anguish down, and to keep himself from worrying. For the umpteenth time, he asked himself why he did not persuade Tony to let him go in his stead, instead. He sighed, it would not do him good to worry.  
He thought of his mother, who was his biggest supporter, even when he was small and sickly and asthmatic. He thought of what she would say, of 'faith, and how it does not matter if he did not believe in God, it just mattered whether he had faith or not.' He believed it and felt himself worry less.  
God, he missed Tony already. If he was here, he would say -  
"Hey, Steve. Missing me already? God, you are a sap."  
And he would reply, always reply with, "Hmm, maybe. But I'm your sap."  
Wait-what. His mind short-circuited, and he lifted his head, to come to face-to-face with the grinning image of Tony, in his suit, from the Helicarrier. Tony, with his disheveled hair, his manic face, alight with energy and excitement and happiness, making him look ten years younger, like the time at High School, without a care in the world and his ridiculous beard and beautiful eyes, and his gorgeous smile aimed at him, at him, and he found himself grinning like 'a love-sick fool', Bucky's words and ignoring Clint's and Sam's 'Whipped!', focusing on Tony's face.  
Tony was grinning, like he knew something Steve didn't. It was a good look on him, Steve decided. Well, he had already decided. But, still, Tony was not someone who showed emotions like that.  
He straightened up and smiled at Tony. "How is the Helicarrier, Tony? Enjoying it so far?"  
Tony's grin widened, and he told Steve, "Oh yes. No Pepper to hound me to board meetings and no Steve to hound me to eat. It is quite enjoyable. Though I miss you already, the persuasions to eat and rest apart."  
Steve's heart filled up with happiness and Love as he gazed at Tony, who missed him already, just like him.  
"...this reminds me of something, you know..." Tony continued, gesturing with his eyes, what with his hands holding the throttles.  
"Yeah, and what's that?" Steve was genuinely surprised, Tony was someone who never dwelled on the past, 'A Futurist, Steve.' He gazed at the small cockpit of the Helicarrier, and then back at Steve. A slow, mischievous smile spread across his face, "Remember the broom closet, Sophomore Year?" Steve grinned, it was impossible not to. He remembered that day very clearly.  
It was just during the period that he admitted to having a crush on Tony Stark, genius extraordinaire. Getting locked in a broom closet the next day was not on the timetable. Later he would think it was maybe Clint's fault, but the forty-odd minutes they spent locked in the broom closet brought them closer than ever.  
And they didn’t even kiss.  
Grinning like a loon now, he bent forward to the screen that displayed Tony, with the pilot, Jim? James? Behind him, worrying his teeth as he used his right hand to press some instruments which Steve did not know. Steve shook his head and told Tony, in what Tony had dubbed as his 'I am Cap and I know better' voice, seriously, "I expect you to come home safe and sound, Shellhead. Understand? Or else I'll get Natasha or Pepper to revive you just so I could kill you again."  
And Tony, equally serious, replied with a "Yes, sir. Captain, sir.", using their ridiculous nicknames from High School. And Steve nodded, this was enough. And he could have just sat there, looking at Tony and marveling at the fact that this man, this wonderful, wonderful man was his, if he was not interrupted by a beeping on the Control Board.  
"Uh oh, gotta go Steve, we're climbing up to 600 feet now. I love you." And the feed cut off, not before Steve got to reply with his own 'I love you' and grinning at the way his 'I love you' came without hesitation, for a boy who was taught that showing emotions was a sin.  
Shaking his head to dispel any thoughts of Howard Stark and the missed opportunity that he didn't get to give him a decent left hook, and significantly more relaxed than he was before talking with Tony, he turned to face the others and promptly felt the good mood evaporate by coming to face-to-face with Obadiah Stane.  
"What do you want, Stane?" Steve, for all the reasons Tony gave for trusting Stane, reasons like 'He protected me from my father, Steve', 'He wants only good for the company', 'Uncle Obie is family, Steve.' All these reasons were made by a man who was broken down by the world and still managed to stand up, with his head held high, but Steve, for some reason did not trust the guy. At all.  
"Oh, come on Steve." Steve hated the way his name came out of Stane's mouth, slimy and disgusting, like putrid, so unlike Tony, who whispered his name like a caress, a whisper, a secret for only themselves and the stars, the stars that Tony desperately wanted to visit since he was three, and who was fulfilling them.  
He recoiled from Stane, who continued on, "I only wanted to know whether our boy was doing okay. There can't be anything wrong in that, can there be?" Steve also hated the way Stane said 'our boy' like Tony was a boy, to be patronized by his father. Tony was a twenty-seven-year-old man, who could look after himself and one of the most brilliant minds in the country, if not the whole world. He shouldn't be patronized, especially by someone like Stane. That was the thing about Tony, if he trusted someone, he trusted them with all his heart, mind, body and soul. The examples of Tiberius and Sunset were proof enough. And Steve wouldn't change him for anything in the world. This trust that Tony showed was beautiful, it was mind blowing, exhilarating. This simple, beautiful trust from a man who has enough reason not to trust anybody from the way his childhood shaped up. And Steve respected that. Loved that, even.  
There was also something about the way Stane worded the sentence, as though he knew something Steve did not, a crucial piece of information, vital to Tony's survival.  
Try as Steve may, he just cannot Tony to understand Steve's suspicions about Stane, unfounded as they were. Just his gut feeling. "He's doing okay, Stane." That's it, short and sweet. He will not talk to Stane more than necessary.  
He stood up, with the rest of the gang flanking him, and as they swept out of the room in a huddle, they called back to the guy responsible for Communication and Transmission, ordering him to call them as soon as Tony left a message. 

********** 

The engine of the Helicarrier protested, sparks coming out of the machine, while its occupants sat, unknowing of the danger lurking beneath their feet, their concentration all on taking the Helicarrier upto seven hundred and fifty feet. 

**********


	3. Space, Beautiful yet Cruel

 

 

 Tony sat dumbstruck in his seat. He was sure that his mouth was hanging open and he was also sure that if Steve were here, he would tease about his expression now, if he wasn’t staring at space. Pepper would be amazed. Rhodey would be grinning like a loon. Clint would see, shrug because he would not have gotten the point of seeing “a vast empty space”, in his words, which caused a twenty-minute Tony-rant and Steve Rogers’ I-am-disappointed-in-you-stare for a week. He did not speak about space after that. Natasha would shake her head fondly and Bucky would chortle. Peter would gaze at the stars not unlike Tony himself. Tony dumbfounded. Won’t that be a sight to see? The great Tony Stark who had snark for the silliest of reasons spell struck. All the tabloids would pay millions to see that occur, Tony thought wryly. 

 

God, what have they done to him? He was quiet., as he stared into the millions of stars, his dream come true. The stars, home away from a place that was once home but quickly became the strangest land, not soon after he left for MIT. The stars, his refuge. Burning bright, the pathway. The pathway to freedom. The pathway which protected him, surrounded him with a warm, bright, light that was his refuge. The pathway to escape from loneliness, living in a house with an alcoholic father and an absentee mother, with nobody to listen, to nurture, to cherish and love. The pathway that protected him from Howard and those horrible words which would burned in his memory forever. The pathway which led him to shut down the weapons’ manufacturing business. The pathway which led him to build the Helicarrier. The pathway that led him to Steve. 

 

Steve. 

 

It was always Steve, anytime, wasn’t it? Steve, so-good, fiercely loyal Steve who stayed with Tony no matter how many times Tony showed he was not worth it. Caring, loving Steve, who let Tony to his first love because he knew how important this was for him. Steve, who danced with him below the stars, gazing down at him, with an unreadable but an unbelievable soft expression on his face, with the faint sounds of their prom heard behind him, both of them standing and swaying to their own music, Steve in that horribly colored lime green suit, that did wonders to his physique, and him in a shockingly extravagant red and gold suit. Steve, whose eyes shine brighter than the stars themselves when he smiles. Steve, who vowed to protect him from Howard. Steve who caught him as he threw himself off his bedroom window in a desperate attempt fueled by hate and fear to escape Howard and who took him stargazing in the middle of the night, on his motorcycle, without a jacket or a helmet, because he had rushed when Tony called him, sobbing and snotty. Steve who loved him. 

 

The stars. Steve. Everything protected him. Him, Tony Stark who does not deserve them. Next to him, Jimmy sat silent too. Like he knew how important this was for Tony. He did it. He finally proved that his Helicarrier was not useless. Was not a mistake. That showed them, the critical insensitive reporters. 

 

Suddenly, an incessant and unceasing beeping noise disturbed his dream. It was the Control Tower. “Helicarrier, are you receiving me? Reply immediately. Over and out.” He was glad that Jimmy decided to respond with, “Control Tower, receiving you loud and clear.” Tony wasn’t sure he voice would have been steady if he had responded. And then, with the Control Tower going through the necessary protocols, with Jimmy responding in the affirmative, and with Tony confirming, it was finally announced that the Helicarrier’s mission was successful. At least the first part: the going to space part. Now they had to survive five days in space.  

 

Oh joy. 

 

********** 

 

Once in space, when all the machines were put to rest and stabilized, Tony unhooked his belt and unzipped his heavy suit that tethered him to the seat, Tony drifted up and about, Jimmy gazing at him incredulously. Then, without a second thought, he did the same thing, and soon, both of them were floating in the tiny cabin, bumping each other and the walls that both confined and protected them from the space outside, giggling like school children, without a care of the world. They snickered and giggled, pretending to play bumper cars and hit each other, the camaraderie building with each passing moment, and as Tony drifted, incredulous that he was having so much fun, what with stuck in what was essentially, in layman terms, a tin can which was 'doomed to fail from the start' and 'will fall to the ground and turn to dust, just like Stark's ego', according to Fox News, and by extension, Christine Everhart.

 

While Jimmy zoomed in the minuscule cabin, Tony suddenly could picture himself with Steve, out in the space, with only their love and the stars illuminating them for company. He could almost picture them here, in the tiny cabin, full of their love and their love of the stars, back where they finally belonged, a place where Steve can let go about worry more than enough for the entire world, where his eyebrows can smooth out and where his eyes can shine without the burden and the sadness in them. This can be the place where Tony can also finally let go, let go of all the things Howard told him, how he was unworthy, how stupid he was, how undeserving of the Stark name, how he was not, and never will be good enough.

 

He could finally let go. So, he did.

 

He breathed in, the air inside the tiny cabin surrounded by space where anything and everything could go wrong, and let it all out. He breathed out, feeling like he belonged in his skin, and tried not to think of how he can survive for five days without Steve. It was a monumental task, and dammit, he wanted Steve to be there. Steve, his beacon of light, who belonged right here, with the stars, his protectors. 

 

**********

 

"Hello, Control Tower, Heli here. Receiving?"

 

"Hey there, Heli! Receiving you loud and clear. What your status?

 

"All good here, Control Tower! The stats are all looking up nice and good, and the engine has been set to auto-pilot, programmed at revolving space at a diameter of 360 miles, at an altitude of 20,000 feet. The oxygen levels are holding now, and the temperature and pressure, is optimum, at 298 K and at 1 atmospheric pressure."

 

"Good to hear that, Heli. Maintain the same. Rendezvous at 2100 hours, UTC. Copy?"

 

"Copy. See you then."

 

*********

 

Back on Earth, Stane, having listened to this conversation, shut down the receiver and the transmitter, with an annoyed grimace, his hands clenching and unclenching. HE turned abruptly, to look at his bodyguard, Rumlow, and demanded brusquely, "Well, you said you did something. What?"

 

Rumlow shrugged, with a nonchalant face, seemingly unbothered by Stane's obvious but indirect threat and told him, "Well, you told me to cut some wires. So I cut some of 'em. Didn't know what I cut. You're the engineering expert, not me, remember?"

 

Stane, without deigning to give a reply, turned and gazed at the sky.

 

**********     


End file.
